LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Lottery announced a Louisville man won a $1 million off a scratch-off.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased a $20 200X scratch-off ticket last at Cox's Smokers Outlet on Westport Road. He was at home in the kitchen when he scratched off the winning ticket.
“I was waiting for my wife to call to talk about what to fix for dinner so while standing at the counter, I scratched the ticket off,” he said. "It’s incredible, the best month of my life."
Kentucky Lottery said he matched the number 43 on the second row of his ticket and began to scratch off the prize amount below.
“I saw the zeroes and literally walked away. Am I losing my mind? I was freaking out,” he said. "I had to sit down, I started to have a panic attack."
After checking it over and over, he finally came to the realization he had won a million dollars. He called his wife and she immediately thought something was wrong, so he proceeded to tell her he had won $1,000,000.
"We didn’t have a good connection, so I sat it on the kitchen counter and waited for her to get home," he said. "She looked at the ticket and with her eyes wide open, looks at me. She freaked out. We were like, what do we do now."
Two days later, he claimed the ticket at lottery headquarters. He opted to take the game’s lump sum cash payment of $914,000, receiving a check for $648,940 after taxes.
The couple began making a plan and agreed they were going to be spend the money wisely.
The Jefferson County man told officials that winning the money is the boost they needed to increase their quality of life. Cox’s Smokers Outlet will receive a $9,140 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
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